Letter: Setting record straight on medical pot

Carolyn Short’s recent op-ed (May 23) contains numerous unfounded statements. Let’s set the record straight.

The Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (AMMA), is hardly “the most lax marijuana law in the nation” as Ms. Short claims.

It is instead one of the most stringent programs in the U.S. The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) mandates significant security requirements for dispensaries and grow facilities that ensure employee, patient and community safety.

Ms. Short’s claim that the AMMA is unconstitutional and that our political leaders must scuttle it conveniently ignores the Constitution’s Tenth Amendment — states have rights. The founding fathers understood that to preserve liberty, federal power must be limited so as not to usurp those governments nearest to the people.

Short also claims that ADHS employees are at risk of arrest and prosecution. Really? Can any reasonable person imagine a scenario in which federal agents handcuff and jail civil servants implementing a voter-approved law? This has not occurred in any other state and is highly unlikely to happen in Arizona, given the long, proud history of fully exercising our 10th Amendment rights.

The hysteria of opponents is simply playing to people’s fears in order to undo something they refuse to understand – that there is a responsible, medical context for the regulated sale and use of marijuana.

Doug Banfelder

Phoenix